COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP DIVISION TWO ROUNDUP: Tuesday was fruitful for Middlesex, Lancashire, Leicestershire and Gloucestershire as the Kookaburra ball did little in helpful batting conditions up and down the country
Bristol (day three of four): Gloucestershire 187 & 364-3, Derbyshire 398 - Gloucestershire lead by 153 runs with seven wickets remaining
Skipper Cameron Bancroft batted through all three sessions to score 170 not out and lead a strong Gloucestershire fightback on the third day of the Rothesay County Championship Division Two game with Derbyshire at the Seat Unique Stadium, Bristol.
Unbeaten on 32 overnight, the experienced Australian extended his stay at the crease to seven hours 19 minutes by stumps, having faced 337 balls, struck 16 fours, and shared an unbroken fourth-wicket stand of 205 with Graeme van Buuren, who ended the day 105 not out in a second innings total of 364 for 3.
Having been outplayed on the opening two days, Gloucestershire are now 153 in front with seven wickets still in hand, and have every chance of securing a draw. Miles Hammond made 44 on a day of total frustration for a Derbyshire bowling attack unable to summon any meaningful assistance from a flat pitch.
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Saif Zaib has been in terrific form this summer (Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)
Blackpool (day three of four): Kent 374, Lancashire 639-9 - Lancashire lead by 265 runs with one wicket remaining
Centuries by Luke Wells, Josh Bohannon and Ashton Turner on debut have given Lancashire a chance of defeating Kent on the final day of the Rothesay County Championship match at Blackpool and thereby securing their first red-ball victory of the season.
Replying to the visitors' 374, Lancashire were 639 for 9 at the close after a day in which their batsmen savaged Daniel Bell-Drummond's attack.
Wells made 152, Bohannon 124 and Turner a career-best 154 on a day when their county amassed the highest total in matches between the sides.
Lancashire will go into the final day with a lead of 261 and the decision facing stand-in skipper James Anderson is whether to declare overnight or club a few more runs before trying to force a win on a docile surface. The latter seems unlikely.
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Cameron Bancroft's century has given Gloucestershire a second-innings lead (Dan Istitene/Getty Images)
Northampton (day three of four): Middlesex 413 & 215-3, Northamptonshire 435 - Middlesex lead by 193 runs with seven wickets remaining
Josh de Caires struck 87 (144 balls, 12 fours), his highest first-class score, to put Middlesex in a strong position at the end of day three of this Rothesay County Championship match at Wantage Road. Playing his first game of the season, de Caires, who has batted at No.7 for the last couple of years as a spinning allrounder, shared an opening stand of 89 with Sam Robson (48), the Seaxes finishing the day on 215 for 3, a lead of 193.
It helped wrestle back the initiative for Middlesex after allrounder Justin Broad hit 70 and combined with Lloyd Pope in a record 10th-wicket partnership for Northamptonshire against Middlesex to earn a slender first innings lead.
Broad and Pope's heroics came after Ryan Higgins' hat-trick spearheaded a Northamptonshire batting collapse in the morning session. From a dominant 342 for 5, the hosts lost four wickets for eight runs in just 4.2 overs after Saif Zaib posted an excellent 102, his fourth century of the summer, the first Northamptonshire batter since Ben Duckett in 2016 to reach that milestone.
Higgins finished with figures of 3 for 48 while spinner Zafar Gohar (5 for 121) took a further wicket to add to his four yesterday.
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